Audit suggests needed updates for police force

(Continued from front page) in funding the endeavor, the formation of a citizen emergency response team (CERT), the creation of a lead dispatcher position and more community outreach such as monthly coffee chats were also recommended.

According to the audit, in terms of communications, the municipality is several decades behind.

“Skagway utilizes a mixed grouping of portable and mobile radios. There is no standardization of radio equipment. Thirty percent of all radios are more than 20 years old and many are in disrepair or are no longer operable. Several vehicle antenna systems have deteriorated causing problems in both transmission and receiving.”

Repeaters located on AB Mountain and Goat Lake need replacing. New repeaters are in storage at the police department but the municipality has been unable to find a contractor to install the equipment.

While Haigh recommend- ed utilizing the new repeaters as a backup, he urged the municipality to update its communications system.

“It’s not current, it’s old technology,” he said. “Back in the 1980s, it was state of the art. It’s not where we’re at today, there are much better systems that are out there.”

Haigh proposed utilizing Alaska Land Mobile Radio (ALMR), a statewide communication system for Alaska first responders. He described the system’s capability.

“When you get into the right trunking band on your radio, you can take a portable radio sitting here in City Hall today and talk to Anchorage on it,” he said. “And it’ll just transfer where you need it to go. The computers will make it work. So it’s hugely robust and does some pretty exciting stuff for you.”

Mayor Andrew Cremata said the audit was a “call to action.”

He described Skagway as, “always caught between this dichotomy between wanting